So, it worked......

........ possibly.  Last week I received a discount voucher for one page of the 1939 Register.  Maybe because I complained to them so vehemently about the cost (it was certainly one of the most blunt emails I've ever written).  Or maybe not.

But I decided to use it anyway.  And, after a fair amount of thought to decide who would give me the best return, I settled on my paternal grandfather and his (new) family.  Despite a number of searches for the lady by her name, I was only finally able to find her by narrowing the search to her year of birth.

Only to find her listed with her full name.  With their daughters.  But not my grandfather!  

And, when I looked at the original entry, there was a note "See Page 12".  Not knowing what page I was on nor, indeed,  how to find another page I surmised that a lot more money was involved and I decided not to pursue it further.

NB.  Trying to apply my discount was a nightmare and took about 15 minutes "online chat" to get it all sorted out.

Overall I think I can safely say that I am considerably underwhelmed by the publication of the 1939 Register.  Perhaps when the owners decide to stop putting barriers in our way.....

More soon.

1939 and all that.....

A couple of weeks ago the 1939 Register was published and the genealogy world let go of its collectively-held breath. 

And, in my case, let out a heartfelt howl of protest.   I have a subscription to the site which has it, which I renewed just for this moment.  The index is free for anyone to search. But I discovered that to look at ONE original page the cost would be £6.95...... Oh, or you can buy four pages for about £20.

So I decided that, unless I win the lottery, I would make do with the index. I discovered that I could use the reference number for each entry to find out who else was on the page. And I was able to find the street name sometimes. Not always, because searching for villages is a nightmare. 

And then the site admins must have found out about the reference number "loophole". And now they've removed it. 

Is the site run by the Government?  It certainly seems to be putting things out of the reach of those of us without a massive bank balance. 

Rant over. 

More soon.